This data collection investigates the effectiveness of
alternative approaches to reducing delays in criminal
appeals. Interviews were conducted with court representatives from
districts employing differing alternatives. These districts and
approaches are (1) case management in the Illinois Appellate Court,
Fourth District, in Springfield, (2) staff screening for submission
without oral argument in the California Court of Appeals, Third
District, in Sacramento, and (3) fast-tracking proced... (more info)

This data collection investigates the effectiveness of
alternative approaches to reducing delays in criminal
appeals. Interviews were conducted with court representatives from
districts employing differing alternatives. These districts and
approaches are (1) case management in the Illinois Appellate Court,
Fourth District, in Springfield, (2) staff screening for submission
without oral argument in the California Court of Appeals, Third
District, in Sacramento, and (3) fast-tracking procedures in the Rhode
Island Supreme Court. Parallel interviews were conducted in public
defenders' offices in three additional locations: Colorado, the
District of Columbia, and Minnesota. Questions focused on the backlogs
courts were facing, the reasons for the backlogs, and the
consequences. Participants were asked about the fairness and possible
consequences of procedures employed by their courts and other courts
in this study. Case data were acquired from court records of the
Springfield, Sacramento, and Rhode Island courts.

Access Notes

One or more data files in this study are set up in a non-standard format, such as card image format. Users
may need help converting these files before they can be used for analysis.

Universe:
Judges, attorneys, staff, and criminal appeal cases in the
California Court of Appeals, Third District, in Sacramento, the
Illinois Appellate Court, Fourth District, in Springfield, and the
Rhode Island Supreme Court.

Data Types:
survey data, and event/transaction data

Methodology

Study Purpose:
Justice Resources conducted this study in
response to the growing caseload backlog in state criminal appellate
courts. The criminal appeals process is a vital feature of the legal
system because it challenges lower court convictions, thereby further
ensuring due process. Recently the volume of appeals has been
increasing at a much higher rate than crime, arrests, and
prosecutions. Criminal appellate courts have been forced to modify
their procedures in response to increasing caseloads. Since very
little was known about these modified procedures, this study was
conducted to examine three alternatives that have become settled
policy in the courts that employ them. The purpose of the study was to
clarify problems with such procedures and to gauge the prospects for
further successful appellate reform. A procedure called "case
management," used in the Illinois Appellate Court, Fourth District,
in Springfield was chosen as a subject for this study. With this
process, every appeal was given an achievable time frame. Deadlines
were made clear in a scheduling order which was strictly
enforced. Also selected was the California Court of Appeals, Third
District, in Sacramento for its procedure of "staff screening for
submission without oral argument." This process was meant to reduce
the amount of time spent on nonargued appeals. Time prior to briefing
was not affected. Each case was reviewed by a three-judge panel which
recommended a waiver of argument if it felt argument was not
necessary. If argument was waived, the appeal was simply submitted to
the same panel for decision. All other cases were tried on a regular
argument calendar. The Rhode Island Supreme Court was selected because
it employed "fast-tracking procedures," which focused on cases that
did not require full briefing. Cases that did not require full
briefing were identified by individual justices. After counsel was
consulted, these cases were put on a "show-cause" calendar. These
cases were submitted for decision with limited written statements and
argument on a motions calendar. The other cases proceeded with
briefing and argument in a normal fashion. Participants from each
court were interviewed, and case data were collected from their court
records.

Study Design:
Interviews were conducted with judges, attorneys,
court clerks, and other court staff from the California Court of
Appeals, Third District, in Sacramento, the Illinois Appellate Court,
Third District, in Springfield, and the Rhode Island Supreme
Court. Letters were sent to each of these courts requesting
interviews. Interviews were then conducted in person and lasted 45
minutes to an hour. Twenty individuals were interviewed from the Rhode
Island Supreme Court, 69 from the court in Sacramento, and 38 from the
Springfield court, yielding a total of 127 individuals. Case data were
collected from court records in each of these courts. A total of 1,059
cases were chosen, 138 from Rhode Island, 587 from Sacramento, and 334
from Illinois.

Sample:
The three court districts in this study were chosen
because they employed alternative procedures to reduce delays in
criminal appeals, because the different approaches were succeeding,
and because the approaches were representative of alternatives in
dealing with criminal appeals. Attempts were made to interview
individuals in varying positions in the appeals courts.

Data Source:

personal interviews, and court records

Description of Variables:
Interviews covered opinions concerning the
alternative procedures as they affected the quality of justice, the
amount of time these procedures saved, and the possible benefits and
deficiencies of modified appeals processes. Case data variables
include the dates upon which various steps of the appeals process were
completed, decisions and outcomes of cases, and length of briefs filed
for individual appeals.

Response Rates:
Not applicable.

Presence of Common Scales:
Several Likert-type scales were used.

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: